Various types of semiconductor detectors are known in the art. As will be described hereinbelow with reference to the drawings, conventional semiconductor detectors suffer from performance degradation inter alia due to non-uniformities in the electric field thereacross adjacent the side walls thereof and leakage current along the surface of the detector side walls.
The following U.S. and foreign patent documents show the provision of an external electrode for various purposes distinct and different from those of the present invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,326,996; 4,926,228; Japanese Kokais 60-218870 and 57-201086 and German Offenlegungsschrift DE 3321921.